24 minute read
Sariya IT-: Amjad Al Omar, GM, Sariya IT, tells RME about the company’s latest range of products and solutions
INTERVIEW // SARIYA IT
sariya it: forging ahead
Amjad Al Omar, GM, Sariya IT, explains the company’s growth strategy based on innovations in Green IT, IoT, AI, DC and other key sectors, while educating partners and end-users about the latest technological developments.
Can you tell us something about Sariya IT? SARIYA IT Distribution is a Saudi Arabiabased Value-Added Distributor, formed in 2002, having excellent alliances with many well-known hardware/ software vendors to provide best-ofbreed products/solutions to channel partners. SARIYA-IT has invested in its inherent strength in infrastructure, technical skills and customer service to create a niche for itself in the product distribution space. The company has always been characterised by a high level of competence in its chosen areas.
Current competencies arise out of the company’s solid experience, and reside in a multidisciplinary team with strong emphasis in latest and advances technologies, statistics, and marketing, etc. With a broad range of capabilities, including consulting and logistics, we provide our channel partners the solutions they need to meet their strategic business objectives.
We have promoted and successfully implemented 2CRSI products and technology offerings through our channel in region, beginning as a security VAD and now consolidating our strength with strong presence among IoT, AI, DC and other key sectors.
What are Sariya IT’s business plans with 2CRSI? We’re working very closely with
Amjad Al Omar, GM, Sariya IT
2CRSI because we’d like to be part of the change that is coming to the ME region. This change is not only about technology but also about cost-effectiveness, while the market’s need for computing and storage are sky rocketing.
With this aim, we are educating our channel partners and end users about new market trends like edge computing, AI and different innovative cooling solutions for data centers, as well as new developments in industrial computing. This will help them understand and plan their growth with expert guidance. Meanwhile, we will also be working with our partners and end users to create awareness and generate demand. How important is the KSA market for 2CRSI and Sariya IT? The KSA market is absolutely the most important market in the region, especially after the announcement by the government to make the Kingdom less dependent on oil profits. This strategic vision will enhance KSA’s position as a central business hub in the region. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also happens to be the largest economy in the region, and with its reputation as the main IT hub, it will create significant employment opportunities, especially in manufacturing and data centres. In this context, partnership with a world-class vendor like 2CRSI will help us provide competitive, cutting-edge solutions to the market, starting with IP rate rugged Pc’s till HPC and data centers solutions, with an immersion cooling technology.
What are the customer requirements for ICT and how are 2CRSI’s technological offerings contributing to this demand? Customer requirements for IT are massive and given today’s rapid journey towards digital transformation, the demand for seamless and effective ICT solutions are much more than before. AI, in particular, is gaining significant traction and the demand for high performance computing is spiralling upwards. 2CRSI is specialised in HPC and has several prestigious projects worldwide, which makes them well-equipped to provide customers with industry-defining products and solutions. How is Sariya IT planning to support KSA’s Vision 2030? We, as a part of Al-Kuhaimi Group, support KSA’s Vision 2030, and believe in ensuring its success in the IT distribution sector. First of all, we are committed to offering more jobs for Saudis, and this year most of our new hires have been Saudi nationals. We are also looking to fill positions for IT graduates in different departments throughout the entire operation, rather than limit roles to any specific function. In addition, we are also offering our services to educating the market with help of government entities for a sustainable and green IT ecosystem.
That’s not all: we’re signing distribution agreements with strategic vendors and are sure that our technical expertise and innovative technologies will empower the channel eco system in particular and Vision 2030 in general.
We have seen initiatives from Sariya on Green IT, why it is important? I’m glad we’re discussing this subject; we are doing our best to raise awareness and educate the channel community about importance of Green IT. In fact, not too many people know that as much as 4-5% of global CO2 emissions are from data centres, which is 2 times more than commercial airlines, so the time is right to take the issue seriously.
Let’s look at some more facts: 7-8% of worldwide electricity consumption is caused by the Internet and computing, and this is expected to grow to 10-11% within 5 years. Some studies also show that watching 30 minutes of video on social media generates as much CO2 emission levels as driving a sedan for 6Kms.
Green IT is all about renewable energy sources and reducing electricity consumption. In fact, with an immersion cooling solution, we can help to reduce as much as 80% power consumption of a data centre.
What are Sariya IT’s expansion plans? We have a plan to expand further in the Egypt and Levant markets. The pandemic reduced the acceleration quite a bit, but we’re still moving ahead.
SPOTLIGHT // MITEL
Miss. Kheirya Elesawy Mr. Mohamed Nadir Tahri
ON Call & Mitel revolutionise private cloud contact centre
Research shows that the rise of the mobile consumer has led to The Easy CX Revolution. In fact, as many as 46% want tools introduced that are easier to use and 32% would like to see more mobile apps used, while 45% define great CX as responsive and fast service.
On Call, Call Centers Services L.L.C., the region’s first Hosted Contact Centre from Mitel, first started as a brainchild of Miss. Kheirya Elsesawy and Mr. Mohamed Nadir Tahri in 2019, to offer monthly contact center services to customers across the UAE. Although plans had to be put on hold for a year, talks resumed in 2020, with demos showcasing complete Mitel cloud – based communication omni channel capabilities such as voice, email, chat, video and social media. RME spoke to Miss. Kheirya, General Manager, On Call, Call Centers Services L.L.C. and Mr. Nadir, Operations Manager, On Call, Call Centers Services L.L.C. to find out more about this unique journey.
What prompted an initiative such as On-Call? It was basically the result of the realisation that we are in the customerexperience business and so the way an organization delivers services to customers is beginning to be as important as what it delivers.
COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a shift of IT priorities and ushered in the need for greater collaboration between customers, businesses and technology. Today, CIO priorities, particularly in the META region, comprise aspects such as building and enabling new applications for customers and employees to enable smoother and more seamless digital experiences. With this in mind, Mitel wanted to operate a one of-its-kind hosted in-country call centre with complete omni-channel capabilities including social media, for customers offering predefined packages with agents working remotely. The Mitel contact centre business, along with MiCollab and remote working capabilities, allowed for the infrastructure to be hosted within a reliable data centre to ensure that agents are capable to deliver customer services despite the work restraints due to the pandemic situation. This made way for the region’s first Hosted Contact Centre with bilingual AI & agent assist.
How has the support from Mitel been? We are very happy to be partnering with Mitel, because Mitel has been supporting us all the way with their cutting-edge solutions and services. This is the first time we have the complete social media integration, which will go a long, long way in enhancing customer experience. Our vision is to reduce the cost to companies and Mitel has been with us in our entire journey, understanding our needs. The support was mainly on the operational and technology side to make sure we were equipped to deal with this whole new trend. What were the challenges that you were facing before this initiative came about? The main challenge for us was diversity-we had to deal with multiple cultures, multiple languages and multiple requirements. We were also finding it difficult to cater to different industries and ensure complete customer happiness. Then again, technology was also a challenge and earlier, everything was human-centric and the costs were high. But Mitel helped us address all challenges and reduce costs considerably. We have been able to grow with Mitel and understand the customer’s needs better. We’ve also been able to understand our own shortcomings and rectify them easily, with Mitel’s help for speed, integration & OPEX pay as you go model.
What are the benefits of this new and all-digital customer service experience? The main benefit is that you are able to interact with customers the way they want you to. Your customers desire a memorable experience and you want to give it to them. So, On Call is one way to deliver first-class services to this hyper-connected generation by interacting through voice, email, chat, SMS and even social media. The idea is to keep your door, and their options open, with a cloud contact centre so they will have every opportunity to talk to you and no reason not to.
A call centre such as this one also helps to break down silos. Traditional siloed contact centres are costly to manage and complex to integrate. With Mitel’s help, we are now able to let customers manage all of their customer interactions with a virtual workforce while taking advantage of the latest industry features—bringing the entire business closer to the customer. Then again, agents are able to collaborate instantaneously with experts to resolve customer inquiries on first contact, resulting in fewer interaction transfers and customer call backs. The benefits don’t end there: By running contact centre software from the cloud, customer care managers have the flexibility to find and retain top talent, regardless of location. This helps them deliver the same great customer experience anywhere. They’ll also be able to scale easily, anytime, anywhere, to meet seasonality and growth requirements head-on. Not to mention cutting unnecessary costs and making the business more efficient.
eufy Security - Protects you, your family and your privacy
Syed Sameer Ali, senior sales & operations manager at Eufy Security Nebula & Soundcore MEA Region W hat is new from Eufy Security at GITEX 2020? We’re very excited to be participating Real-time response: Speak directly to anyone who approaches your home via two-way audio. What advice would you offer businesses or home owners in GITEX this year and have a whole range that have never used a security of products to showcase. Perhaps the most system before but are thinking of exciting offering is the launch of the Eufy investing in one now? cam2 pro Wireless Home Security Kit I would say this is the right time to take which comes with 2 cameras and 1 home advantage of the latest innovations, new base. Some of its key features include: age technologies and convenience to keep 2K resolution: When it comes to every part of your life safe and secure. security, the key is in the detail. See exactly Invest in the best and most reliable devices what is happening in and around your like the eufy Security systems that do most home in crisp 2K clarity. of the work for you and takes all worries
A year’s security from one charge: away. Avoid frequent trips to charge the battery What are the other extra features and enjoy 365-day battery life from just of Eufy products? one charge. Your privacy is something that we value as
Advanced night vision: The state- much as you do. The in-depth measures we of-the-art Sony sensor allows for detailed take when handling your data have been recordings and streaming in low-light recognised by the BSI (British Standards scenarios. Institute), which awarded us with
Ready for any weather: With an ISO27001 and ISO27701 certifications. IP67 weather proof-rating, eufyCam 2 Pro Obtaining these certifications show our is built to withstand the elements. dedication to comply with the highest
Protects you, your family, and possible international data privacy laws your privacy: Every eufy security such as GDPR (General Data Protection product is engineered to ensure that your Regulation) and CCPA (California security data is kept private. Consumer Privacy Act). 100% wire-free: Without cords or wires of any kind, the eufyCam 2 Pro Local Storage | For Your Eyes Only installs indoors and out with ease to carry Home is where your data belongs. With out surveillance of your home for 365 days secure local storage, your private data on a single charge. never leaves the safety of your home, and
Smart image enhancement: Get is accessible by you alone. a clearer, brighter view of the people inshot. Built-in AI technology identifies and End-to-End Encription | Peeking focuses in on the human in the image. Prohibited
Human detection: Reduce false All recorded footage is encrypted on-device alerts with smart tech, which differentiates and sent straight to your phone—and only humans from objects. you have the key to decrypt and watch
Syed Sameer Ali, Eufy Security
the footage. Data during transmission is encrypted.
On-Device AI | Everything In-House
Our super-smart AI is built into every eufy device. It analyses your recorded footage without the need to risk your privacy by sending it to the cloud.
How do we keep your recordings safe? Secure Storage | Plenty of Space
Thanks to its built-in 16GB eMMC, HomeBase securely stores up to 3 months of recordings right there on the device.
Video Authorization | Access in Your Hands
You have complete control over who has access to the live video stream and recordings. Only authorised users can view the recorded videos.
Anti-Theft Data Protection | Safe From Outside Sources
Even if someone were to steal the SD Card or HomeBase, the data onboard cannot be accessed through unrecognised mediums.
How Do We Keep Your Account Safe? Two-Step Verification | Notified of New Devices
When a new device is trying to log into your account, a verification code will be sent to your phone or email that you have registered.
Account Exclusivity | Grant Access to Family and Guests
Only the primary owner of the account is able to grant permissions to new users. Account Data Safety | Only For Those You Trust Account exclusivity ensures that your data is not accessible to unauthorised users.
Nebula Astro Portable Projector: Enjoy endless entertainment on-the-go
Faraz Mehdi, Regional Sales Director at Anker Innovations MEA – Region gives the lowdown on the Nebula Astro Portable Projector.
What are some of Nebula’s flagship products? We have a range of cuttingedge products that are suitable for the competitive market. The
Nebula Astro Portable Projector is an exciting product with multiple features. It is a kids’ pocket cinema, mini projector, 100 ANSI Lumens, Android 7.1, 2.5-Hour Battery Life product. The following are some of its features: • The World is Your Cinema: Transform any location, from your bedroom to your backyard and beyond, into your own personal movie theater thanks to • Astro’s pocket-sized design. Endless Entertainment: Enjoy a Faraz Mehdi, Anker Innovations MEA universe of entertainment in the palm of your hand with Android 7.1. Binge- the kids occupied via YouTube Kids watch your favorite movies and shows and more. on Netflix or Amazon Prime, or keep • Watch Without Worry: Eye Guard Tech provides added protection for curious kids who take an interest in Astro’s bright DLP bulb. If anyone comes within a maximum of 60 cm of the front of the bulb, Astro switches off projection automatically, protecting their eyes. THE NEBULA ASTRO • Entertainment On the Go: With up PORTABLE PROJECTOR to 2.5 hours of battery life, you can watch a quick movie or catch multiple IS AN EXCITING PRODUCT WITH • episodes of your favorite TV show, no matter where you are. Kid-Friendly Content: Manage what MULTIPLE, CUTTING- your child watches via the parental controls. Protect your parent-only EDGE FEATURES.” movies and apps with a password so your children don’t accidentally stumble upon something they shouldn’t.
Not only that: From a device the size of an apple, Astro has the power to project an image up to 100 inches big. This enables you to capture the spectacle of the movie theater, no matter where you are. Additionally, you can expand Astro’s capabilities by connecting up your favorite HDMI, USB-C, and Bluetooth devices. You can even wirelessly mirror content from your phone via mirror cast and AirPlay.
Misplaced the remote? Don’t worry, as you can control Astro right from your phone via the Nebula Connect app. Play and pause movies, browse menus, and more with a simple swipe of your finger. It also has an IPX7 Waterproof Protection and 360° Sound for Backyard and Beach Party, 20W Wireless Speaker with PartyCast, EQ Adjustment, and 12-Hour Playtime. To add to the excitement, the product is equipped with 360° immersive sound-a portable Bluetooth speaker with Powerful 360°, bass-driven audio. Dual drivers and passive radiators combine with BassUp technology to generate a portable party with 20W of intense sound.
There is also a totally reimagined rainbow light show that pulses, phases, and shines to the beat of your music. Double light-rings simultaneously shine down onto the dancefloor and up into the atmosphere for pumping floor-toceiling illumination.
That’s not all: No matter where the music needs to be, Flare 2 portable Bluetooth speaker is suited up and ready. Super-safe IPX7 waterproof protection effortlessly withstands spills, rain, and even complete submersion in water.
QNAP introduces ZFS-based QuTS hero for performance and data integrity
Faced with the explosive growth of data, VDI popularity, increasing SSD adoption, 8K media, and other disruptive IT trends, modern businesses need dependable storage systems to meet future demands. QNAP’s new “QuTS hero” operating system combines the app-based QTS with a 128-bit ZFS file system to provide flexible storage management, comprehensive data protection and optimized performance to meet the needs of business-critical applications.
QTS/QuTS Hero supports Fibre Channel on QNAP NAS: Common Fibre Channel SAN (Storage Area Networks) are closed network environments and their devices are often expensive while lacking deployment flexibility. Bu using a QNAP NAS with Fibre Channel connectivity, your NAS can be easily added to your existing SAN environment at an affordable price point. This allows you to leverage the many benefits from QNAP NAS including snapshot protection, Qtier tiering storage, SSD cache acceleration and more.
Efficient data reduction technology: Inline data deduplication is block-based and runs before data is written to storage. This greatly optimizes storage usage while significantly decreasing storage capacity requirements. Coupled with inline compression and inline compaction technologies, ZFS significantly reduces the overall storage footprint - especially helpful for increasing SSD storage efficiency when highly-repetitive data or massive small files are generated.
Up to petabyte capacity per shared folder: The 128-bit ZFS filesystem has huge capacity potential and supports native handling of standard RAID levels and additional ZFS RAID layouts (RAID Z). ZFS-based QNAP storage solutions provide up to 1 PB capacity for individual shared folders, enabling enterprises to tackle storage-demanding applications. Designed to deal with petabytes of data, RAID Z quickly handles creating ready-touse high-capacity RAID.
Instant snapshots and real-time SnapSync: ZFS supports up to 65,535 snapshots for iSCSI LUN and shared folders to accomplish well-rounded snapshot versioning. If 1 snapshot is created every hour, 24 snapshots per day, then up to 7 years of snapshots can be created without needing to delete any! Copy-on-write technology makes snapshot creation almost instantaneous without affecting ongoing data writing. Recovering with snapshots does not interrupt ongoing system services, realizing highly-efficient backup and disaster recovery. The advanced block-based real-time SnapSync ensures that the primary NAS and the secondary NAS always keep the same data, providing the strongest support for nonstop business operations and helping users remove the risk of data loss!
Fastest compression algorithm: LZ4 is a lossless compression algorithm, providing extremely fast compression and decompression speeds. In business environments that require data storage speeds of over 100 MB/s, LZ4 is an ideal choice for low-latency and highperformance IO. Data will first go through inline compression before stored into ZFS-based NAS disks – providing greater storage utilization – especially in applications that require data to be frequently compressed and quickly decompressed. Alongside deduplication, it shows greater overall data reduction.
Powerful self-healing: Data integrity is key to the reliability of applications and databases. As SSD adoption grows, businesses must prepare for the greater risk of data loss due to the difficulty in recovering data from a dead SSD. Designed with a focus on data integrity, ZFS uses end-to-end checksums to detect and correct silent data corruption caused by hardware defects, bugs in firmware or metadata errors. If an integrity violation is detected, ZFS automatically repairs the damage using data from another mirror before the data is passed to applications. WORM (Write Once, Read Many Times) is also supported to ensure that data, once written, cannot be modified.
Special edition QNAP NAS with QuTS hero preinstalled QNAP provides a special edition QNAP NAS with a preinstalled QuTS hero operating system. Take advantage of high-performance hardware and expandability with the cutting-edge storage management, data protection and optimized features of QuTS hero! The latest QuTS hero operating system delivers better data transmission performance and the capacity to realise the full potential of 10GbE data transmission.
So, what are you waiting for? Discover the incredible power of the QuTS hero operating system right away. Get in touch with alextsai@qnap.com.
FOCUS// SOPHOS
Sophos publishes ‘threat report 2021’ outlining security & threat landscape
Sophos, a global leader in next-generation cybersecurity, has published the Sophos 2021 Threat Report, which flags how ransomware and fast-changing attacker behaviors, from advanced to entry level, will shape the threat landscape and IT security in 2021. The report, written by SophosLabs security researchers, as well as Sophos’ threat hunters, rapid responders, and cloud security and AI experts, provides a threedimensional perspective on security threats and trends, from their inception to real-world impact.
Three key trends Sophos saw a clear trend towards value, and then sell access to the most analysed in the adversaries differentiating themselves lucrative targets to the highest bidder, Sophos 2021 Threat in terms of their skills and targets. such as a major ransomware operation. Report include: However, we’ve also seen ransomware For instance, in 2020, Ryuk used Buer 1.The gap between families sharing best-of-breed tools Loader to deliver its ransomware. ransomware and forming self-styled collaborative “Commodity malware can seem like operators at ‘cartels,’” said Chester Wisniewski, a sandstorm of low-level noise clogging different ends of principal research scientist, Sophos. up the security alert system. From the skills and resource spectrum will “Some, like Maze, appeared to pack what Sophos analyzed, it is clear that increase. At the high end, the big-game their bags and head for a life of leisure, defenders need to take these attacks hunting ransomware families will except that some of their tools and seriously, because of where they might continue to refine and change their techniques have resurfaced under the lead. Any infection can lead to every tactics, techniques and procedures guise of a newcomer, Egregor. The infection. Many security teams will feel (TTPs) to become more evasive and cyberthreat landscape abhors a vacuum. that once malware has been blocked nation-state-like in sophistication, If one threat disappears another one or removed and the compromised targeting larger organizations with will quickly take its place. In many machine cleaned, the incident has been multimillion-dollar ransom demands. ways, it is almost impossible to predict prevented,” said Wisniewski. “They may In 2020, such families included Ryuk where ransomware will go next, but not realize that the attack was likely and RagnarLocker. At the other end of the attack trends discussed in Sophos’ the spectrum, Sophos anticipates an threat report this year are likely to increase in the number of entry level, continue into 2021.” apprentice-type attackers looking for menu-driven, ransomware-for-rent, 2. Everyday threats such as commodity such as Dharma, that allows them to malware, including loaders and botnets, target high volumes of smaller prey. or human-operated Initial Access
Another ransomware trend Brokers, will demand serious security THE BIG-GAME HUNTING is “secondary extortion,” where attention. Such threats can seem like RANSOMWARE FAMILIES alongside the data encryption the low level malware noise, but they are WILL CONTINUE TO REFINE attackers steal and threaten to publish designed to secure a foothold in a AND CHANGE THEIR sensitive or confidential information, target, gather essential data and share TACTICS, TECHNIQUES if their demands are not met. In data back to a command-and-control AND PROCEDURES TO 2020, Sophos reported on Maze, RagnarLocker, Netwalker, REvil, and others using this approach. “The ransomware business model is network that will provide further instructions. If human operators are behind these types of threats, they’ll review every compromised machine for BECOME MORE EVASIVE AND NATION-STATE LIKE IN SOPHISTICATION.” dynamic and complex. During 2020, its geolocation and other signs of high
against more than one machine and that seemingly common malware like Emotet and Buer Loader can lead to Ryuk, Netwalker and other advanced attacks, which IT may not notice until the ransomware deploys, possibly in the middle of the night or on the weekend. Underestimating ‘minor’ infections could prove very costly.”
3. All ranks of adversaries will increasingly abuse legitimate tools, well known utilities and common network destinations to evade detection and security measures and thwart analysis and attribution. The abuse of legitimate tools enables adversaries to stay under the radar while they move around the network until they are ready to launch the main part of the attack, such as ransomware. For nationstate-sponsored attackers, there is the additional benefit that using common tools makes attribution harder. In 2020, Sophos reported on the wide range of standard attack tools now being used by adversaries.
“The abuse of everyday tools and techniques to disguise an active attack featured prominently in Sophos’ review of the threat landscape during 2020. This technique challenges traditional security approaches because the appearance of known tools doesn’t automatically trigger a red flag. This is where the rapidly growing field of human-led threat hunting and managed threat response really comes into its own,” said Wisniewski. “Human experts know the subtle anomalies and traces to look for, such as a legitimate tool being used at the wrong time or in the wrong place. To trained threat hunters or IT managers using endpoint detection and response (EDR) features, these signs are valuable tripwires that can alert security teams to a potential intruder and an attack underway.”
Additional trends analyzed in the Sophos 2021 Threat Report include: • Attacks on servers: adversaries have targeted server platforms running both Windows and Linux, and leveraged these platforms to attack organizations from within • The impact of the COVID 19 pandemic on IT security, such as the security challenges of working from home using personal networks protected by widely varying levels of security • The security challenges facing cloud environments: cloud computing has successfully borne the brunt of a lot of the enterprise needs for secure computing environments, but faces challenges different to those of a traditional enterprise network • Common services like RDP and VPN concentrators, which remain a focus for attacks on the network perimeter.
Attackers also use RDP to move laterally within breached networks • Software applications traditionally flagged as “potentially unwanted” because they delivered a plethora of advertisements, but engaged in tactics that are increasingly indistinguishable from overt malware • The surprising reappearance of an old bug, VelvetSweatshop – a default password feature for earlier versions of Microsoft Excel – used to conceal macros or other malicious content in documents and evade advanced threat detection • The need to apply approaches from epidemiology to quantify unseen, undetected and unknown cyberthreats in order to better bridge gaps in detection, assess risk and define priorities.
